Marco Rose says Bournemouth need to maintain hard work after hitting form
Amine Adli, Lewis Cook and Alvaro Rodriguez were on target.
Marco Rose insists in-form Bournemouth must work hard to maintain their “flow” after beating Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Amine Adli, Lewis Cook and Alvaro Rodriguez were on target at the Vitality Stadium to set up a last-eight tie away to Liverpool.
Victory was Bournemouth’s fifth in a row in all competitions and their third successive 3-0 win after identical results against AC Milan in the Conference League and Manchester United in the Premier League.
The Cherries have kept five straight clean sheets since opening the month with a 5-1 thrashing at Chelsea.
“We felt after Chelsea that we have to start better, especially if you talk about early good starts of the opponents,” said head coach Rose.
“Now we changed the momentum, now we are a team that starts well, and we have to keep it.
“It feels at the moment that we are in a flow but it is hard work, that’s what we have to know and we have to continue the hard work to stay in it.”
Both sides made wholesale changes for the fourth-round tie, with Bournemouth opting for eight following Sunday’s memorable visit to Old Trafford and Villa making nine after Saturday’s 2-1 success over Manchester City.
Winger Adli opened the scoring in the seventh minute before captain Cook doubled the advantage six minutes into the second period with an attempted cross.
Striker Rodriguez wrapped up the win in the 69th minute as Bournemouth booked a quarter-final spot for the first time in eight seasons.
“I’m quite pleased with the result, with the clean sheet, and the performance of the lads,” said Rose.
“Both teams changed a lot. I think it was quite a watchable game, chances on both sides.
“But at the end I think a deserved win for us. We scored nice goals, we were relentless, won good balls, defended well, had a good goalkeeper (Michele Di Gregorio), so I’m pleased today.”
Villa, five-time League Cup winners, suffered their first defeat in eight games.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Alejandro Garnacho and Alysson squandered good opportunities for the visitors in Dorset.
Villa boss Unai Emery lamented his side’s slow starts to both halves and their failure to convert chances but was pleased to give minutes to fringe players.
“How we are out, I have to accept,” said Emery.
“I think the players did everything we planned but the intensity they (Bournemouth) had in the first 15 minutes of the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half when they scored those two goals was the difference.
“We created chances after the first goal. We were not clinical.
“Second half after they scored the second goal, we created chances but we didn’t score.
“And they scored the third goal and after it was more difficult.
“Being disappointed, we must try to use this match to get some positive issues through how some players are progressively getting better, and move on.”